The 5 college majors most likely to lead to underemployment

Will Folsom

Liberal arts majors may cringe as they click on PayScale's underemployment report, expecting to see their program at the top of the list for majors most likely to lead to jobs with low hours and/or in unrelated fields.

But, while art- and writing-related majors do make the ranking, they don't have a monopoly on courses of study that can lead to underemployment.

Physical education teaching

Typical job(s): Physical education teacher
Percent underemployed: 56.4%
Reason: not using education or training: 79.1%
Reason: part-time, seeking full-time: 20.9%

Human services

Typical job(s): Case manager, human resources associate
Percent underemployed: 55.6%
Reason: not using education or training: 82.2%
Reason: part-time, seeking full-time: 17.8%

Illustration

Typical job(s): Graphic designer
Percent underemployed: 54.7%
Reason: not using education or training: 74.5%
Reason: part-time, seeking full-time: 25.5%